:: Odishi Dance ::

The Story and History of Odissi Dance and Sri Geeta Govinda.

The Udayagiri Caves, Bhubaneswar

The tradition of Odissi dance is almost 2000 years old. It is gleaned from the past records that the first clear picture of Odissi dance was available on frizzes of Udayagiri caves, which was carved at the time of King Maha Megha Vahana Aira Kharavela. Flanked by two queens, ( Simhapatha Rani and Bajira Ghara Rani ) King Kharavela himself was watching a dance recital where a damsel was performing dance in front of the court; there were several accompanists including female instrumentalists. Thus Odissi dance can be traced back to its origin as a secular dance, which was latter on very much attached to the temples.

King Kharavela with his Queens on the Supitham watching a dance performance. A Tandava Dance performance by women.

Starting with the rituals of Sri Jagannath temple of Puri, Odissi dance was regularly performed in Shaivites, Vaisnavites and Sakta temples of Odisha. We have already got an inscription where it was also engraved that a devadasi Karpusri’s attachment to a Buddhist monastery, where she herself, starting with her grandmother and mother, performed as devadasi. Thus it may be inferred that this secular dance latter named as Odissi dance was first originated as a court dance and in due course of time became associated with Jaina monasteries as patronised and performed by royal presence, latter on also performed in all religious places including Buddhist monasteries.

It was said that one older temple existed at the same place referred to as Neelachala or Blue mountain, and Chodangadeva constructed a temple at the place by renovating or moving the debris of dilapidated temple. The legends of Indradyumna and Galamadhava gave ample testimonies to this probability. However existence of Lord Jagannath along with brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra was there as we have with us the famous hymn composed by Adisankara who visited the place in the 9^th / 10^th centaury AD and established his monastery at this place. In his famous hymn “Jagannathastaka”, he has associated Lord Jagannath with Srikrishna and his first stanza was devoted to Srikrishna.

“ Kadachit Kalindi tata Bipina

Sangitakabarau

Mudavirih narii badana

Kamalaswadmadhupa...”

This ‘Asthaka’ or eight stanza was probably very much in use in the rituals of Srimandira which paved path for use of Sri Geetagovinda mahari dance in Srimandira of Lord Jagannath.

According to Madala Panji, the temple chronicle, Geeta Govinda Seva was initiated by King Kabi Narasingha during his rule, corresponding to 1278 AD as starting year and 1309 AD as the end of his rule. This Kavi Narasingha of Ganga dynasty, literally translated, would be poet king Narasingha, who was actually Narasingha Deva of Ganga dynasty. Geetagovinda was actually composed during his predecessor Ganga king Kamarnava.

King Kamarnava ruled Odisha in between 1147 AD to 1156 AD during which Geetagovinda was composed by Kaviraj Jayadev of Kenduli village near Puri and Bhubaneswar. As Geetagovinda was quick to get recognition among the learned scholars of coastal Odisha, it was analysed by another Odishan poet and scholar Kavi Udayana Acharya. The name of this first supplement is known as “Vaba Bibhabini” ( Analysis of Feelings). At this point of time, it was known that king Raghava Deva was ruling over Odisha. His period was limited to 1156 AD to 1170 AD. Therefore, it is inferred that the then ruling Ganga king and Odishan scholars were amused by the musical rendering and scholarly writing of Kaviraj Jayadev mingled with devotional subject matter, and thought it proper to offer to the lord Jagannath along with music and dance rituals.

As Jayadeva has himself revealed as “ Padmabati Charana Chakravarty” and and also mentioned this friend Parasara and others ( Parasayedi Bandha barge ) it can be told, probably he was the composer and with Padmavati, his wife, they were a dance couple.Most probably Parasara , his friends and other accompanists were there to perform dance and music recital before lord in the temples and kings in the court, it needs further examination and documentation.

However, we have seen in between 1156 AD to 1300 AD, within a 150 years, Sri Geetagovinda itself as a devotional song suitable to be presented through music and dance in the daily rituals of Lord Sri Jagannath in Puri. As already told before that different hymns and stories were rendered before Lord at different times and Upasana Mudras ( Poses , Postures and Gestures) were used to be performed by Sevayats. In all probability “Jagannathastaka”, a hymn composed by Adi Sankara was one of the hymns those were rendered before Lord Jagannath as we also found it to be most suitable hymn in Odissi dance or without Odissi dance.

Dance as a ritual is present in all Hindu temples of India. There are ample evidence to prove that Jaina monks along with kings were also patronising dance as rituals. It was also similar in Buddhist practices. The Devadasi or Mahari tradition, later known as dancing girls tradition of Hindu temple, was a pan-Indian phenomenon, although most of the scholars attribute this to be a South Indian style. North Indian temples were also patronising this Devadasi tradition though due to Muslim invasion the tradition was discontinued.

Thus Sri Jayadeva’s Geeta Govinda was rendered by Brahmin Sevayats and female Devadasis known as “ Bhittara Geyeni” and “Samprada”. S ome Maharis performed dance near the inner threshold known as ‘Kalahaat Dwara”. This was going on without any interruption for 200 years. Performance of Geetagovinda and Mahari Dance influenced other temples to start such tradition. As we see in Odisha all temples, Shaivites, Vaishnvaites along with Sakta temples patronised this tradition which is documented in temples of Bhubaneswar, Kakatpur and Jajpur. One Sadhu Pradhana Jayadeva was also honoured at Sri Lingaraj temple of Bhubaneswar.

During this period, lot of learned scholars started writing imitating Sri Geeta Govinda, which were by some research scholarwere branded as “ Counterfeits of Geeta Govinda”. We may use the euphemism as imitations of Geeta Govinda. All these imitations of Geeta Govinda vied with the original one, but inspite of their masterly qualities, failed to surpass Kaviraja Sri Jayadeva’s master piece. The writer of these imitations included no less than the Gajapati King who wrote Abhinaba Geeta Govinda also. There from its enviable position of every day rendering before Lord Jagannath continues. To put an end to this controversy King Prataprudradeve of Suryavamsa issued a proclamation engraved in Jay Bijaya Dwara that original Geetagovinda only will be recited during temple rituals in the rights.

Thus Geeta Govinda finds its eternal bond with temple recital of music and dance. Till today, Geeta Govinda enjoys its coveted position despite various other musical compositions and innovative approaches.

It was different story that the Odissi Dance resurged out of tthe temples aided by Raja Ramananda, when he wanted to stage his drama ‘ Jagannatha Ballava’ outside temples in Puri and invited the Devadasis to participate in it. This innovation also attracted objections and only after lot of royal support he could manage to get a temple girl called Mukta Devadasi to perform dance outside Sri Jagannath temple. Some opined that Raja Ramananda managed to get her from other temple. However, Sri Geeta Govinda remains to inspire.

By Late Dr.Jasobanta Narayan Dhar. ( This article was first published in the Orissa Review # May 2008. )Photographs by Sri J.K.Dash

Temples of Odisha and Odissi Dance.

A story retold.

The story has a long history – maybe longer than the known period of civilisation. India is a country where geography is dominated by demography and geology is dominated by archaeology. If you turn stone here you will get a story. Fortunately, the pictures carved on the stones can be deciphered. Not all, but the dated temples sing a song of a glorious civilisation, culture, dance and drama which is loud enough to be heard and understood by human beings today. The entire state is loaded with such songs. Our archaeology dates back to an age before the birth of Christ. Friezes and frescoes of Khandagiri and Udayagiri are clear enough to give us ample storyline to discover the route of our dance to focus on at least one area of our cultural heritage.

The identity maker of Odisha today is the Odissi dance. It can be said that Odissi dance has completed a full circle, starting from a secular origin to a ritualistic medieval form and again established itself in a secular platform of modern Odisha. As we know, South Indian Temples give all the poses and postures now enacted in the foremost classical dance form of India – Bharatnatyam. Temples like the Chidambaram temple of Tamil Nadu have vividly portrayed this classical dance form in a syllabus like presentation.

Dance poses of Chidambaram Temple.

Unfortunately, Odissi dance has no such single syllabus. For a thousand years- right from 6^th to the 16^th century AD, artists and sculptures had given a variety of poses and postures establishing the grandeur and the wide range of the Odissi dancer’s body movement.

Tandava Dance poses at Satrughaneswara temple. Shiva Vivaha

The Marriage Procession of Lord Shiva.

Let us be specific. The Rameswara-Bharateswara-Satrugheswara-Laxmaneswara complex of temples have friezes of Shiva Tandava and Shiva Vivaha which have their own typical style. In the Bharatasutra written by Agastya muni, there are a hundred Shiva Tandava dances from which twelve important dance forms are mentioned below:-

1. Ananda Tandava,

2. Sandhya Tandava,

3. Sringara Tandava,

4. Tripura Tandava,

5. Urdhava Tandava,

6. Muni Tandava,

7. Sanmhara Tandava,

8. Ugra Tandava,

9. Bhoota Natyam,

10. Pralaya Tandava,

11. Bhujanga Tandava,

12. Shudha Tandava.

Satrughneswara 7.JPG In this particular grill, we find Ravana stuti as Shiva danced to teach a lesson to his disciple Ravana. It is said that the famous Shiva Tandava Sthrotam was spontaneously recited by the ten headed Ravana when he wanted to throw the Kailas Parvata along with Shiva-Parvati to draw the attention of Lord Shiva after his painstaking penance .

Satrughneswara 8.JPG Shiva taught a lesson to Ravana’s audacity and Ravana, understanding the wrath of Shiva, tried to pacify him by chanting... “ jata kata ha sambhramam bhrama nirlipa nirjhari “. As we view the friezes on a door jamb, this Sanskrit sloka automatically comes to mind. This is the greatness of Odishan sculpture, and sculptors who carved the finer feelings on rough and hard granite and sand stone. Besides these, there are numerous Tandava murtis carved in various temples of Odisha. One single temple has several varieties of Tandava nrutyas. Astonishingly, Odishan temples have so many Tandava murtis but none of them has raised the left leg without touching the ground. This is symbolic of Mahadeva Shiva preferring in his pleasant mood – in contrast to the mood of destruction portrayed in South Indian Temples.

The Sandhya Tandava, which is another form of Tandava nrutya portrayed in Odishan temples, is dance on the back of Bulls. This is another characteristic of the pleasant mood and creative energy. Besides the dancing statue Mahadeva Shiva known as Nataraja or Natesha, several other gods, goddess or demi-gods are also portrayed in the stone sculpture of Odishan temples. These are very much followed by modern Odissi dancers. For instance, Sri Krishna in his tribhange thhani which is known in Odissi dance parlance as Natavara Bhangi is one of them. The Nrutya Ganesha abundantly present in Odishan temples also has a stylised format. The Chauka style, which has the standing posture of Sri Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra chathurdhha murti is also followed in Odissi dance. It is said that demi-gods like Batuka, Bhairava reflect the tantric relationship with Odishan culture which resulted in the Batu nrutya in Odissi dance.

It is said that as per Agni Puranna, the Silpa shastras prescribed the picture and portrayals of the outer walls of temples. The temples of Odisha have the figures of maidens and dancing damsels. It is called Nari Bandha known as Kanyas or Alasa Kanyas, Sura Sundari, Badya Dharani and Nrutyangana in profusion, depicted according to the shastras, on outer walls ranging from miniature to full-life in size.

Natamandira or Natamandapa is an essential part of Odishan temples. The pinnacle of glory achieved by the Konark Sun Temple embodies these two techniques. In various sizes portrayal of the dancing girls are found in the temples. Alongside- the separate detached Natamandapa speaks volumes about the importance of dancing styles that evolved in Odisha as Vidya Daheja noted in his scholarly work on early stone temples of Odisha. In the earlier temples such as Parsurameswara, the girls are carved eight to ten inches high and they are placed entirely at random along the walls of the temple. In the latest of our monuments the Mukteswara, the girls, some two or three feet in height are deeply carved and for the adornment for the base of the series of decorative pilasters along the temple walls. This development has its final shape when we come to the great work of Odishan artists in the Sun Temple of Konark. Both in dance and temple sculpture, there are four types of Bhangis or postures namely:-

Samabhanga – straight or erect pose,

Abhanga – slightly bent pose,

Tribhanga – pose with three bends,

Atibhanga – extremely bent pose.

These sculptors and masons of yore learnt the art of temple decoration from dancing damsels and dramaturgies of Odisha . Today our damsels are learning and imitating from those very carved stones which were chiselled to such wonderful life-like images by those great sculptors. ( Gallery- dance poses on temples of Odisha )

The story of the origin and evolution of Odissi dance has a concrete base, as extensively portrayed in Odishan temples. It only needs to be corroborated and chronologically encoded.

Written By late Dr.Jasobanta Narayan Dhar.

Photographs by Sri J.K.Dash.